The Smiley Smile Message Board

Al always says that the ending of 'Break Away' was a wasted opportunity. I don't like the dogs and train at the end of Caroline No: there needed to be a longer gap after the fade.

Any other posters have problems with the last parts of a BB song?

I guess I don't understand this thread.

Man, this is getting specific. Well, I suppose the ending of Heroes and Villains single version could be better. Instead of going away with a bang, it just drags itself away.

No. Enough lame negative threads.

How about "just okay songs which have parts that are not quite as okay, but still quite okay anyway"?

The endings and tags of Beach Boys songs are almost always the best parts.

Psst....You're allowed to listen to the single version of Caroline, No. There are no dogs and train.

The ending of Break Away is great.

I could live without the fade out / in tricks in Help Me, Ronda.

I was never one for the last section of "I'm Waiting For the Day" after

"I'm Waiting for the Day
 When you can
 love again"

but I could never imagine listening to Breakaway without its ending. That's my favorite part of the song.

On a more positive note, I think the tag to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is really underrated.

Never understood Al's comment regarding Breakaway, the ending is the best part! The 'oh boy you jump for joy' is incredible and I love the weird 'morse code' sounding instrument, what is that? (paging aeijtzsche).

I kinda think this thread should be the other way round, that is 'songs you don't particularly like which have end sections you do like' - in the is category would go Tears In The Morning, Bluebirds Over The Mountain and Don't Go Near The Water.

What's wrong with the ending of Breakaway? I've heard Bruce and/or Al say something along the lines of a wasted opportunity about the ending of Breakaway. I know on Brian's demo just has him singing "doooo do do do do doo"...but there's other vocals that cover that.

On Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds", there's about three (or more?) different endings.

The first two disappoint. One just goes on like the rest of the song, fades out...boring. The other fades in and out a la The Beach Boys' Today "Help Me Rhonda".

The third one is the best. The song really gets going and the horns come in strong, no fading in and out. To me, that's the most satisfying one.

Did Mike write the line "feel the vibrations" on the tag of Breakaway? I'm guessing yes.

that, to me is the big letdown of an otherwise amazing tune. Well that, and the fact that they didn't keep Brian's awesome lead after I heard the demo version.

Is this the first instance of Mike's horrible practice of referencing a former hit in the band's catalog, in an attempt to give the song more hit potential??? (I'm assuming that's why he does it )

'Do It Again' seems to be his first attempt at recapturing former glories, but Breakaway is probably the first one to mention another song specifically.

How many lyrics has Mike written that namedrop other Beach Boy songs?

Do It Again does mention "California Girls"...

This thread sucks so I'm going to do the opposite of the OP:

"Sweet Mountain" is kind of a snooze-fest until the last bit where Brian comes in and the song finally comes to life.

And you can hear that his voice has deteriorated. ;D

I like his voice in that song. If I could snort hog rails and still sound that good, sign me up!

right you are!

damn you Mike Love!

I really love "I Wanna Pick You Up" until the ending bit if that counts. On the reverse side I don't much care for "Endless Harmony" until the 2nd half.

I go back and forth liking/disliking the tag to "Airplane" (I can't wait...). Some days I think it ruins the great "down, down, on the ground..." chord section. Other days I think tacking a call and response sing-a-long to a ballad is the more subversive thing to do this side of subtitling it "And then We'll Have World Peace."

Some tags I love: the PSS alternative version of "God Only Knows" with the piling on of harmonies. I wish it had been the final version.

"At My Window"

Brian's end part on "Had to Phone Ya."

Also, "From There to Back Again" ---maybe my fave ever tag.

It only occurred to me now that we are supposed to be discussing Beach Boys' songs, not songs in general. I'm alright... :hat

The endings to "Fun Fun Fun (album version)" and "California Girls" are frustratingly short. Kirk mentioned a great one - "Had To Phone Ya". Brian obliterates it. "Peggy Sue" (with Al's best lead vocal EVER) comes to a screeching halt. "Sea Cruise" drags on a verse too long at the end. "Shortenin' Bread"'s ending is boring. That's about it. Brian has a pretty good track record with song endings.

Funny, I don't recall a BBs hit called "Feel the Vibrations".

...and "The Lonely Sea."

and Lonely Sea


oops

funny i don't recall saying there was one.


but seriously how many other BBs songs has Mike Love referenced in his lyrics. There must be at least a half-dozen in "Brian's Back" alone. "Spring Vacation" is a doozy as well. He even put the word "Kokomo" in another song title. What a guy.

Airplane

I like the ending to "Airplane", but the counting part sounds forced. It's like they have to show or prove that Brian is producing, but there's no big deal in counting down a song.

Count-offs kick ass. I wish more songs kept them.

The "our!!!!! you can hear preceding the piano in "Johnny Carson" rox my sox.

Nice songs with not so great tags: the studio versions of Funky Pretty and Marcella

My tag theory: if it sounds good with only one repeat, it is also good with more repeats.

The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!
The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!
The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!

California Girls.  Stunning opening that the rest can't live up to.

I seem to remember Al saying he didn't like the end of Break Away because they were singing at too low a pitch, which "made us sound like old men". So my guess is that his concern was commercial. Remember that the context here was that they were experiencing financial difficulties, fishing for a new contract and desperate for a hit, and here was a full-blooded Brian Wilson production specifically tailored to that end - but in the view of Al, they blew it by failing to sound sufficiently "youthful", which he continued (rightly or wrongly) to perceive as synonymous with "commercial". From my perspective though, the end section of Break Away is awesome. The descending "ahh-ahh-ahh" bit is breathtaking - like a ray of sunlight flooding into a dark room.

Back on topic - I've never liked the fadeout on the otherwise lovely You Still Believe In Me.

The accapella ending to the extended long version of God Only Knows. Probably the most amazing harmony vocalization I have ever heard.

Sorry gang.....read this wrong......I thought it said LIKED.

I'd go for Breakaway for the Dmost disliked......big letdown after such a great tune.

Good call, that's the first one that came to me, too.  What the hell is the point?

+1

I think the fadeout is the absolute best thing about You Still Believe In Me. It carries on the majestic-ness after you think it might have been a bit of a fluke on "Wouldn't It Be Nice". That fadeout and it's placement within the song and the album is one of the reasons why Pet Sounds is such a masterpiece.

For the longest time I thought that fading was just a screwup on my downloaded version of the album...

I never would've thought that was the actual mix!

Marcella.  I like this song - especially the live version - and recall hearing it quite a bit back in '72 (mostly on juke box) but as a hit,  it didn't even crack the top 100. 

It could have been a really big hit but I think the reason it wasn't is that, despite starting off really strong and catchy, it starts to run out of gas after 2:22 when the decision is made to keep repeating the "one arm over my shoulder" coda for the remaining 1:30 instead of somehow returning to the main chorus. 

It seems like Brian either got a little lost on this one or he was going for a Beach Boys kind of feel that also appealed to a AOR audience.  I think it was the latter but this alteration of formula put it where it belongs, somewhere in the middle between Pop & Rock.